


True Love's Kiss

by silverjewelkitten



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, True Love's Kiss, and in the background of this story, fairy tale, this aint no disney movie, wendy and chelia are totally gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 09:23:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5823202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverjewelkitten/pseuds/silverjewelkitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Juvia doesn't wait to hear Gray's answer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	True Love's Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this fic stewing in my brain for like 6 months. The accompanying art was created by me.

The attack catches him unaware, and Juvia moves before he can try and stop her. He hears her skin shredding as she’s run through, and he can barely make it to her before she collapses to the ground. She is limp in his arms, blood soaking through her destroyed dress, seeping onto his bare chest. “Juvia!”

Her eyes are cloudy, but she looks up into his eyes. “Gray-sama.” A few tears fall onto her face, Gray’s icy demeanor splintering. “I guess I’ll never get to hear your answer.” His face tightens up and he holds her tighter.

“Don’t say that, Wendy can help you!” She coughs, lungs aspirating with blood. She simply shakes her head.

“It’s too late for that.” Her voice is strangled, and he hasn’t the strength to argue with her. “It’s okay. Juvia knows what Gray-sama was waiting to…tell her.” His eyebrows knit down. “And that’s why, you have to live. Find love…and don’t let go.” She smiles weakly, eyes fluttering, her breaths becoming more and more ragged. “Being beside you…it was a blessing.” She closes her eyes, her heart rate slowing, her blood pumping out too hard for Gray’s hands to stop. He calls out to her, but she doesn’t respond.

His tears don’t stop flowing. “You idiot. I did find it. That’s what I was gonna tell you. I don’t want to let go. “Her breathing stops. He screams.

 

Their enemy, a spriggan soldier, jumps back a few feet, on guard. “She was pretty fast, for a weakling.” He grits his teeth. “She’s already dead you know, there’s no need to be so pitiful.”

“What’s your name?” He asks, his voice dark and angry.

“Oh, still got some fight in you, ‘Gray-sama’? It’s Dimaria.”

He smirks, gingerly releasing Juvia. “I just wanted to know what name to put on your tombstone!”. His face is streaked with tears, and his pain becomes his will to win.

His body covers in black markings. “Devil slaying magic?” She asks, giggling. “As if that would work on me.”

“You look like a devil to me.” He responds, running at her.

Dimaria laughs as he charges. His ice make meets her blow for blow, all finesse and artistry is gone. Gray focuses on relentless, powerful attacks. She goes on the defensive, raising her backsword to stop his ice cannon. “What was her name? Was she your lover?” She chuckles into her hand, treating their fight like a game. He doesn’t rise to her bait.

He can hardly see, so blinded by rage and his own tears. With every word Dimaria says, his attacks get quicker, his resolve harder.

Gray has never killed before.

He sees red. Dimaria’s sword begins to crack, and her eyes grow wide with terror. He exploits this advantage, attacking the sword at its weakest point. She begins to back away, teeth grinding. Her insults have ceased. He sees her fear. He doesn’t stop his assault.

‘How did it end up like this?’ His mind races. He and Juvia separated from everyone else. One of the Spriggan armed to kill, just waiting for an opportunity. Juvia taking the blow for him because of his own distracted mind. Juvia’s blood soaking into his skin.

Dimaria's sword shatters into pieces, and she turns to hand-to-hand combat. Her movements become erratic, unskilled. She has never feared death, but when presented with it head-on, she is dizzied and terrified. She lands a kick into Gray’s face, and he spits blood onto the ground.

A shard of ice carves through her right arm, and he can hear bones snapping. Her scream is agonized. She trips and lands on the ground, cradling her arm, trying to stop the bleeding, to reset the bone, anything. He stalks over to where she sits. He pulls her off the ground, hand around her neck.

Gray has never killed before.

Her face goes red and her eyes water. Her lip is trembling. She doesn’t plead for her life. “Leave.” He says, his voice like a thousand daggers. “Go back to Alvarez, or I will kill you right here.” She nods, eyes bulging. He drops her. He watches her crawl away, clinging to her destroyed arm. The sight disgusts him. He wants to see her dead. Gray is not like them. Gray will not kill. He’s not a soldier. He’s a mage, and a human being.

He clamors back to Juvia’s side. He wipes her hair out of her face. He touches her once warm skin, and feels the growing chill.

* * *

 

_Gray is nine years old, and he doesn’t believe in fairy tales._

_All the girls of the guild crowd around Levy’s library haul, gushing over romance, true love’s kiss, and happily ever-afters. He scoffs._

_Gray’s happily ever after was stolen from him by the demon Deliora. In one night, he lost his parents, all of his childhood friends, his home, and his happiness._

_He found a semblance of that happiness again after becoming a pupil of Ur, and a friend to Lyon. Deliora took away his teacher, and changed Lyon. He was alone once again._

_He found a new home at Fairy Tail, though he believed his adventure to have died with his teacher, who sacrificed herself to rid him of his darkness. In losing his darkness, he also lost his light._

_Years went by, and slowly, he gained friends he could trust. Natsu, Erza, Lucy, Cana, Loke, Wendy….Juvia._

* * *

‘Why are those memories coming back now?’ He thinks, cursing his own stupidity.

He’s been holding onto her for a long time, and he can hear battles in the distance. “You told me not to let go, so I won’t.” His tears have slowed, if slightly, and his voice is hoarse from talking to her. “Who the hell do you think you are…putting words in my mouth like that. After all this time, do you really think I was gonna leave you?” Her torn clothes are soaked in his tears.

She’s completely cold now, and Gray has never been a source of warmth for anyone. Fairy tales. True love’s kiss. Bullshit. “It’s the kind of thing you believe in, right? If you have love, you have to live. So wake up, idiot.”

Gray is eighteen years old, and he’s willing to give fairy tales a chance.

He cradles her face in his hands. And though he can hardly feel the cold anymore, her skin makes him shiver. He closes his eyes, and he kisses her. It’s like kissing a stone statue, lifeless and cold.

He pulls away, reluctantly, the hope in his heart dying out when she doesn’t open her eyes.

He shuts his as well, and just holds her. His eyes have dried out, anyway. He hears breathing, and he feels warm. He writes it off as his imagination.

“Gray…sama?” a tiny voice says, and his eyes fly open. Her chest is expanding softly and unevenly. She brings her hand to her mouth. “I felt…”

Another tears slides down his face. “Juvia? You’re alive.” Disbelief in his voice, and hope. “Oh, shit. You’re alive. And you’re still bleeding. Wendy has to be close.” He picks her up in his arms as gently as he can manage, and starts calling out the sky dragon slayer’s name. He heads towards the sounds of fighting, ignoring his own injuries for the sake of speed.  
Juvia closes her eyes again, breathing still rough. He panics, and frantically searches for Wendy.

They come across Chelia first, who is tending to the wounded. She sees him coming and intercepts him. “What happened?” She asks, gasping at Juvia’s condition.

Gray can’t control himself, “What does it matter, just help her! I’ve already lost her once, I’m not going to let it happen again!” Chelia nods, not allowing his anger to faze her.

“Put her down.” She says, and then she calls for Wendy. She rips apart the remaining pieces of Juvia’s dress, exposing her completely, and Gray turns away, ashamed. “She’s lost a lot of blood. And she’s cold. Really cold.” He kneels down beside Chelia, modesty be damned, and almost vomits at the sight of all the blood. “I don’t have much magic power left. I don’t even know if I can save her.” She says, clinical, honest.

Gray hears the pattering of feet behind them, as Wendy finally reaches them. She gulps, but doesn’t waver. She gets on the other side of Juvia and links her hands with Chelia’s. “Gray, press down on her wound.” She says, afraid. This is one of the worst injuries she’s ever seen. He obeys. He hears them chant their spell and feels the healing light of their magic seeping through the cracks in his fingers.

He holds out hope for a fairy tale.

He can see Wendy and Chelia’s magic begin to fade, they must be exhausted. But little by little, the bleeding slows, and he is asked to move his hands. Wendy pulls her hands away and checks for Juvia’s vital signs. She breathes a sigh of relief. “She’s alive, but barely. We have other patients, so we’re gonna bandage her up and take her to Miss Porlyusica. “

He nods mutely. Her wound is still open, and bleeding languidly, but the slayers assure him that the internal damage is minor, and the external won’t cause any immediate problems. Wendy’s hands press clean bandages against Juvia’s stomach, and Chelia lifts her body so that they can wrap them around her. It’s a patch job at best.

“Come on, Gray. We’ll take you to her.” Gray lifts Juvia into his arms, careful not to jostle her too much. He notices now that Wendy is limping, and Chelia’s not holding up much better.

When they reach Porlyusica’s tent, she grimaces at them. She has row after row of injured to look after, and Juvia is just another. “Lay her there.” She barks, pointing to a recently vacated cot. Gray feels like he’s going to be sick all over again at the pungent smell of old blood. Porlyusica gives her a quick once over, and turns to Gray. “Thanks to these two she’ll live. But if this wound reopens, I can make no guarantees. So get out of here!” He bows to her in respect.

“Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you.” His shoulder shake, and he begins to cry anew. Wendy places her hand on his back and leads him outside.

She guides him to a crate where he sits down. She takes a seat beside him and she cries too. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” His arm loops around her shoulders.

“It’s not your fault. You saved her. It’s my fault. That attack was meant for me.”

The battle rages on, and Gray rejoins the fray.

Three days later, Juvia wakes up. Gray is called in immediately, because Porlyusica tires of Juvia asking for him. She’s not well enough to get up and move around, and since she knows to obey Porlyusica, she stays in her bed.

When Gray walks in her face lights up. “Hey,” He says, lamely. His eyes have dark circles under them, his fingernails are clogged with dirt, and he feels underdressed, for once in his life.

He pulls up a chair beside her. “How are you feeling?” He asks, looking at the floor.

“I’m alright, darling.” She says. She reaches for his hand, and he doesn’t pull away. Porlyusica rolls her eyes and exits the tent. “What happened? I don’t remember much.” Her eyebrows scrunch in confusion.

Gray’s eyes water. “You got hurt real bad. Protecting me. Why would you do that?” He meets her eyes for the first time and she smiles weakly.

“Isn’t it obvious?” She answers, looking away. She even slides her hand out of his grasp. He doesn’t understand.

His voice raises, “Juvia, you didn’t just get hurt. You died. Your heart stopped. I couldn’t…you told me to find love and not let it go. And then you went and died on me. How am I supposed to hold on if you just check out?” Her eyes widen and she turns to him, tears in her eyes. “I tried everything! I even…” He shakes his head, fucking fairy tales.

“Juvia felt….” She brings her hand up to her mouth. “You…” He looks terrified, cheeks reddening. “You kissed Juvia and she missed it!?”

“It’s not like we can’t try again later!” He shouts. He clamps his mouth shut as she gets redder and redder, and promptly faints. He panics and calls Porlyusica back in. She shoos him away, telling him “not to excite Juvia like that” until she’s better. He sheepishly agrees.


End file.
